Hungry like the wolf

Cory Edwards was lost in the forest for 3 1/2 years. He was
writing and directing Hoodwinked, a reworking of the Little Red
Riding Hood fairytale, but felt more like he was trapped in
Groundhog Day.

"It got to the point where I thought I'd never see the end of
it," Edwards says. "At one point Harvey Weinstein asked me, 'When
are you scheduled to finish?' I told him, 'We have a tentative date
of never.'"

Fortunately, Edwards did finish his animated family film. It's a
cross between Shrek and The Usual Suspects in
which a crook is on a spree in Red Riding Hood's forest.
But who is it? After the Wolf is caught impersonating Granny,
amphibian supersleuth Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers) steps in
to question various suspects.

First up is Red Riding Hood, voiced by Anne Hathaway from
Brokeback Mountain. Next, Granny (Glenn Close), the Wolf
(Patrick Warburton) and a lumberjack (James Belushi) give their
accounts. The result is a crime story with a fractured narrative
that resembles Rashomon.

Edwards admits the Kurosawa classic was an inspiration.

"Yes, it's kind of the quintessential non-linear movie," he
says. "And we looked at others, including Run Lola Run, Pulp
Fiction and Memento. We talked a lot about
adult-level films.

"We hoped kids would understand and they did. They play video
games that are non-linear and will pop into their favourite part of
a DVD. They're used to non-linear stories."

Witty and fun, Hoodwinked has enough colour for kids
and enough quick quips and adult allusions for parents. Also
entertaining is the tale of how Hoodwinked came to be
made, which starts with Maurice Kanbar, an inventor who wanted to
move into movies.

Kanbar is the brains behind the D-Fuzz-It sweater comb, the
first multiplex cinema (in New York) and a cryogenic cataract
remover. He also "invented" SKYY vodka.

"Yes, we used vodka money to make a kids' movie," Edwards
says.

Kanbar wanted to make an animated family film based on a
traditional story. Edwards thought of Little Red Riding
Hood. But it was his brother, Todd, who suggested telling the
story from four different perspectives.

"That idea elevated the film above just doing a kids' movie that
would pay some bills."

Hoodwinked is co-written and co-directed by the Edwards
brothers and an old friend, Tony Leech. Todd Edwards, a rock star
wannabe, also composed nine of the film's pop songs on an acoustic
guitar specifically to complement the script.

In content and style, Hoodwinked emulates Pixar and
Disney; in budget, however, it's much more modest. Shot in Asia, it
was made for a fraction of the cost of, say, Finding Nemo.
Animated features are notoriously time-consuming and the low budget
lengthened the shoot.

"When I say we made it overseas, myself and the co-directors
were there for three years," Edwards says. "I made 15 trips to the
Philippines. I'm very familiar with the Starbucks in Manila.

"We were pretty much painted into a corner to pull this off
economically. It was made for under a tenth of budget of a Pixar
film, for just over $US8 million ($10 million). I think that's the
cheapest ever for this sort of movie.

"In Manila, we set up the studio in a giant five-bedroom house
in the equivalent of Beverly Hills, where we had up to 50 artists
working. The rent was the same as for my two-bedroom apartment here
in LA."

He laughs when I mention the word sweatshop. When Edwards talks
of a "kids' movie", I'm sure he doesn't mean it was made by child
labourers.

Hoodwinked has made $US50 million in the US since
January.

"It did much better business than anyone predicted," Edwards
says. "I attribute that to the storytelling and the
characters."

The cast undoubtedly helped, too. How was it working with these
big names?

"You do have to fluff their feathers a bit," Edwards says.
"Certain people need to joke around and improvise before they
start, whereas others ask you, 'So what exactly do you want?' "